John lewis

Ok, So the kitchen is being re-fitted, that's my sewing room.

I have red brick dust all over the house, so I have hidden my fabric amd machines in boxes around the house.

I can't find any of them, but that's okay.  I bought a John Lewis Mini machine, as it was on offer.  £35 for a tiny little toy machine.

I would, on first impression, offer it out as a first machine for a child. At a speed of 450 spm (stitches per minute), this is perfect for a nervous beginner.

http://youtu.be/gZ0ph2-bH0o

27 cm tall and barely a foot long, I'm struggling to believe I can make a dress using this machine.

There is no light, which can be a problem if you struggle with poor eyesight. I don't wear glasses per say, but I am noticing that I struggle to see the needle eye as clearly as I used to.

Winding the bobbin was a slow procedure, I'm not used to the needle moving up and down during this process, but at this rate, it won't do much damage, although I am concerned at the tautness of the bobbin thread.

Bobbins need a good tautness, tension. With too much slack, you tend to get a loose lower thread on your seam and inevitable a tangled mess, usually trapped in the bobbin area under the needle plate.

Another small feature missing, that would help a beginner would be the little sketch on the bobbin cover that shows you which direction in which to load your bobbin. This is a Janome make under the guise of John Lewis. It's very typical for Janome to have this sketch on their plates, so its disappointing they've let John Lewis down by not providing this feature.

The top thread went in very straight forward, but again, it's a basic machine and the hook just above the needle to guide the thread down the needle can easily be missed.  Missing this hook means the top tension on your thread is loose and it looks as though you don't have a well sewn row of stitches, so watch that!

There are 4 stitches to this machine, yes, I know it displays 10, but a straight stitch is a straight stitch. there is no mechanism to adjust the stitch length. Stitches A-D displayed are the straight stitch in different lengths. E is a straight stitch with the needle to the left.  This will be useful to sew in a zip, but you are no supplied with a zip foot.

Stitches F,G and H are differing zigzags, I is a decorative scalloped zigzag stitch and J is a seam finish, a triple zigzag stitch, which will also be useful for a stretch fabric.

There is no seam width guide.  A beginner needs to know what to do, I advise drawing lines on the machine, if you don't want to do that, put a strip of masking tape on your machine and draw measurements onto that.

There are so many reasons not to buy this sewing machine, yet so many good reasons to buy this sewing machine.

I'm an advocate of sewing and little kids are our future, do we want this skill to fade away like so many skills we used to have.  This machine is a perfect little tool to get kiddies interested, but only if you as an adult know what you're doing.

Otherwise, go for something with the basic features that make a beginners life much much easier.

The JL110 is a better spec for a bit more money - try that !